Trump accused of groping model at U.S. Open in 1997: The Guardian

A former model has accused President Trump of groping her during an encounter at the U.S. Open tennis tournament 23 years ago.

Amy Dorris, now a 48-year-old mother of twin girls, says Trump fondled her and forced his tongue down her throat in his VIP box at the stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens during the 1997 tournament, The Guardian reported.

“He just shoved his tongue down my throat and I was pushing him off,” Dorris told the paper. “His grip became tighter and his hands were very gropey and all over my butt, my breasts, my back, everything.”

Dorris says she told relatives and a therapist immediately after the alleged sexual assault, but did not report the attack to the police due to fear of public humiliation.

According to the Guardian’s reporting, Trump emphatically denied the claim through his lawyers.

He has previously flatly denied claims of sexual assault, fondling and making unwanted advances made by several women over the years.

Dorris said she and her then-boyfriend were invited to attend the tennis tournament by Trump, then a high-flying New York mogul who was married to his second wife, Marla Maples.

She told the paper she emerged from the private bathroom in the luxury box when Trump was waiting for her. That’s when he allegedly grabbed her and initiated the unwanted contact.

Even though Dorris said she told confidantes about the incident in real-time, she said she avoided speaking publicly for fear of harming her family.

Trump’s lawyers say the then-boyfriend told them that he does not recall Dorris mentioning the incident to him. He didn’t comment to The Guardian.

Dorris told The Guardian that she considered going public during the 2016 presidential campaign when several other women accused Trump of unwanted advances, but worried about the impact on her young daughters.

Now that the girls are nearly teenagers, Dorris wants them to know she didn’t keep quiet.

“I want them to know that you don’t let anybody do anything to you that you don’t want,” Dorris told The Guardian. “And I’d rather be a role model. I want them to see that I didn’t stay quiet, that I stood up to somebody who did something that was unacceptable.”